Following are directions for how I made my bird bath.

Supplies:  6″ PVC, saucer for bath, tile or ceramic plates or anything you would like to use to cover the PVC, sandpaper,  tile mortar, sanded grout, grout sealer, baby wire brush (not necessary but helpful), tile trowel (not necessary but also helpful), hammer, paint scraper to apply grout, and safety glasses.

Tile and Plates for covering PVC

Tlie Mortar, Grout, and Grout Sealer

Here’s the fun part, using a hammer, break the tile and plates into small pieces.  You should wear safety glasses when doing this.

Break Tile and Plates

Lightly sand the PVC so the mortar will adhere better.  Mix tile mortar according to instructions.  I used half the bag, but should have only used one third, I had a lot left over.  Also, I didn’t use the premixed kind, because the tile guy at Lowes said “the kind in the bag holds up better in outdoor situations” (sure hope he’s right).   After the mixing is done, apply the mortar in small sections, so it will not dry out, this I learned from experience.  Next place tile.

Applying Mortar and Tile

Continue placing tile until the PVC is fully covered.  Note:  I did not apply tiles to the bottom 6″ because I am going to bury it to keep it from tipping over, this is probably not necessary, just personal preference.

Cover PVC except bottom 6"

After mortar has dried, mix grout per instructions.  I used about one third of the bag, I also used grout boost.  You do not have to use this, but once again, the tile guy at Lowes said, ” this would help with the elements” (again hope he’s right).  After mixing is completed, apply grout make sure you get it down in all the creveses.

Apply Grout

As the grout dries use the baby wire brush to remove excess grout.  You will want the grout to dry a little but not all the way.  If it is too soft you will remove too much from in between the tiles, but if it’s too dry it will be a beast to remove.  I suggest you just test a small section to see if it’s dry enough.

Use baby wire brush to remove excess grout

Once the grout is almost completely dry use a damp cloth to completely remove remaining grout and haze from tiles.  This may take time, just keep at it until the tile is nice and shiny.

Remove all excess grout and haze from tile

Once the grout has completely dried your are ready to place your bird bath out in your garden.   I  put a few rocks in the back in hopes butterflies would also use it, though I’m not sure how that will go.

Completed Mosaic Bird Bath

If anyone is interested in making one of these, the cost is about $30 each, not counting the saucer, I don’t know how much those cost.  To keeep cost down; check local tile stores, they always have scraps they will give away, (most times they will only have nuetral colors, I use some nuetral colors along with the colorful), also look for colorful plates at garage sale and thrift stores, the flatter the plate the more usable pieces you will get.   I purchased my  6″ PVC at a plumbing store.  It only comes in 10 ft pieces which will make at least three, depending on how tall you want your bird bath.  I paid around $20 for this a few years ago.  The draw back is since the PVC, mortar, grout, and grout sealers are only sold in quantities to make three bird baths, the cost of $30 each only applies if you make three.  But Christmas will be here before you know it, I’m sure we all know someone who would like one of these.  Did I just tip my hand?   The time in labor to build the bird bath is approximately 5 hrs (not including drying time), give or take depending on experience.   If you have any questions I’ll help if I can, just drop me a line at
charsgardening@yahoo.com or check out
charsgardening.com.

Henry Moore

“There’s no retirement for an artist, it’s your way of living so there’s no end to it.”  Henry Moore – Sculptor

Abdi Farah was the winner of Work of Art: The Next Great Artist.  The prize – a solo show at the Brooklyn Museum and $100,000.  Sweet!

My place is fairly simple. I like to keep my guitars near my PC because sometimes when I am stuck creatively, I’ll take a break and play music. Often times I will leave the amplifier (A Marshall MG100HDFX full stack) turned on so I can just pick up the guitar, turn the volume knob and play. I mainly play a Jackson Randy Rhoads model in Drop C tuning however I also love my PRS SE Custom in standard 440 tuning. But usually if I am stuck creatively, I want to play some riff-based songs so the Jackson gets more play.

I don’t keep much traditional art. My walls are mostly covered in movie or music posters. The Rocky Horror Picture Show, KMFDM’s Xtort, a Texas Chainsaw Massacre poster (autographed to me by Leatherface), Saw 1 and 2 posters, etc. cover the walls.

I like very dim lighting when working and actually in general. My eyes are overly sensitive to light so a lot of light gives me a headache.

Because I like dim lighting, I really prefer paper lamps. These came from Ikea and I absolutely love them. The light is very soft and mellow, which helps me focus and relax. I also love underwater plants, as seen above. I frequently buy them from fish stores. Most of them are meant for aquariums and I buy square glass vases and fill the bottoms with black rocks and other earth tone rocks and bury the plant in them. It makes for a very low maintenance yet beautiful visual. Since they are aquatic plants, you only really have to water them when the vase is running out which is caused by evaporation… in short, you only have to do anything to them once a month. Very hard to kill and very cool looking. I plan to have a few more when I move.

This is my actual desk. It’s a black desk with white legs that I purchased from Ikea. Ikea rocks for cheap furniture.

On the left I have several external hard drives. I very rarely delete files. Often when an HD fills up I will simply buy a new hard drive. Currently I don’t have them hooked up and I have more than can be seen in this photo. I probably have around 8 total external drives and am currently using 3 internals. Next to each monitor is an Ikea paper lamp as described above. My monitors are Samsung Syncmaster 226BW’s. My keyboard and mouse are a Logitech set. The keyboard I don’t remember but the mouse is an MX Laser mouse. I like the keyboard because it has built in mp3 controls for winamp and it has a separate detachable number pad which acts as a standalone calculator. Which I never use. But I like that it frees up desk space.

On the right hand I have a ceramic tile I keep a beverage on so it doesn’t damage my desk.

In the middle of the 2 monitors in the darkness is a Joker mask from The Dark Knight. It came with the DVD when purchased at Best Buy. Since the photos were taken I have also added 3 figures; Dr. Manhattan, The Comedian and Rorschach all from Watchmen.

But yeah. That’s my setup.

Anyways stay tuned to NWFLAA.com for more updates and also feel free to check out my website at
http://brandonpence.com. Thank you very much for reading.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Stars is legit one of my favorite bands period. Often times when I share their music with someone, people say it doesn’t sound like the music I’d like. I find that rather insulting; their music is poetic, deep and beautiful. I am hoping to go see them in November in New Orleans. I love their music so much I can listen to it all day on repeat. I can do that with very, very few bands.

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Lady GaGa has been my “fun” music for awhile now. This is just one of her lesser known songs that I find incredibly catchy.

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Arcade Fire’s latest album “The Suburbs” is just flat out brilliant. I didn’t think they would be able to top Neon Bible but The Suburbs is amazing. Great album from beginning to end.

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Broken Bells are the best thing to come out of 2009 so far (aside from The Limousines debut album). Their music videos are just as awesome as their music and I find them highly inspirational.

Here’s “The High Road” by Broken Bells

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The Afghan Girl by Steve McCurry

Probably one of the most recognized National Geographic Magazine covers is “The Afghan Girl” from 1985.  The photographer is Steve McCurry.  The film is Kodachrome.  Kodachrome was the favorite of many professionals (personally, I preferred Fujichrome back in the day), and so it was a sad day when Kodak decided to discontinue the film last year. Kodak gave the last roll of Kodachrome ever produced to Steve McCurry.  The images on this last roll are being kept secret for now.  National Geographic is planning the big reveal in an upcoming documentary.  Listen to the story 
here.

Steve McCurry by Ahmet Sel